I have included the text from the original proposal below for easy reference. The current contract is scheduled to conclude on December 8th.

Many members of the core team are undergoing media relations training this week (which includes mock interviews) and we are working through drafts of our key messaging, and our strategy for gaining more mainstream exposure. The PR firm will also be assisting before and during the upcoming laBITConf in Argentina in the fall. And of course, they are working on a number of upcoming business partnership announcements to ensure we take full advantage of the media exposure opportunities these integrations can garner.

Note: Any unused funds from this proposal will be used for future public relations services.

Original proposal text

This Public Relations proposal goes hand-in-hand with our business development strategy as we share with the media the different partnerships and integrations we execute. Public relations directly supports business development, since joint promotion is a central source of value Dash provides to potential partners with whom we are negotiating. Public relations also enables Dash to extract more benefit from the partnerships as we announce them.

We have a road-map of additional announcements planned and we believe it is therefore essential to retain a professional PR firm to represent Dash in both the digital currency and mainstream media. After careful consideration, we have selected Wachsman PR as our PR partner for the next phase of our growth.

Wachsman PR is a highly professional firm located in New York that enjoys a strong reputation in the digital currency industry and has demonstrated a high level of professionalism the market has come to expect of the Dash project. Wachsman PR represents many high-profile crypto clients such as Kraken, Purse.io, Overstock's T0 and many others.

Though Wachsman PR is reputable in the industry, they agreed to provide Dash an opportunity to preview their services rather than simply relying on their track record and referrals. They agreed to conduct a trial month of PR services for Dash ahead of us officially hiring them (which we are now planning to do) for a longer-term agreement.

Based on our experience thus far, we highly recommend proceeding with a contract. Wachsman PR staff have all been professional and impressive. They have provided insights and advice on how to extend our reach into mainstream media, helped shape, revise and prepare our d10e presentations and handouts, and have prepared a longer-term PR strategy. They also aren’t afraid to tell us when they disagree with us… They don’t say “yes” to everything we suggest, and tell us what they think is a better approach along with the reasons why. In short, they are adding tremendous value. In just two weeks they have done two press releases with us and obtained an impressive amount of media placements for the project, which I’ve outlined below.

We would like to hire Wachsman PR for an initial four month engagement starting September 1st. The cost of the proposal is $6,000 per month and the entire four month contract will cost $24,000. As a portion of the funding ($880) is already set aside from the July budget “PR - Fall Campaign Pre-Funding”, we will only need an additional $5,120 to fund the initial month’s services. However, as protection against currency fluctuation between now and August 5th, we would like to request the full $6,000 and carry any balance forward to September to be used for the same purposes.​

Note: The original post also included examples of the news placements acquired through the Wachsman PR trial. If you are interested in reading them, see the original proposal (provided in the link above).

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Discussion: Should we fund this proposal?

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n00bkid1 point,10 months ago

Voting no unless/until I can get a simple answer to my simple question --

in their first three weeks of employment by us (September 1 until now, unless I am mistaken), what has Wachsman PR done? Kindly let me know if I'm mistaken on the dates they've been employed.

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babygiraffe (proposal owner)0 points,10 months ago

A report will be released before the end of the week. However, I think the additional context to keep in mind here is that they are actively holding back some news because of their recommended timing and sequencing of upcoming releases... this makes it impossible for them to claim "completion" on work that is complete because it has not yet been made public. So I would encourage everyone to give them additional leeway the first month of service to allow this flow of work to start resulting in publicly-viewable results. They are not simply writing up articles for crypto-focused news sites, and are actually pushing for mainstream exposure... this takes longer and requires more effort, but that is part of their mandate. We need to be patient with that process, though we are already seeing results.

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rgenito0 points,10 months ago

Yes, but this information should still be accessible at least to MNOs. Which is inspiring when you think about the future possibilities of Dash's DAC!

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Solarminer3 points,10 months ago

Where are the updates on the efforts of Wachsman PR?

There should be a huge update with all the activities they have done with the money we have provided them so far. If not, then let's find another marketing firm. $6,000 is more than we have paid any other marketing firm there are no excuses for not showing results.

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babygiraffe (proposal owner)1 point,10 months ago

We had planned on a monthly report. However, something "interim" will get reported this week as the result of requests for information.

Correction: $6,000 is the exact same rate that both previous PR firms charged (including the one that greyghost hired through his Dash World proposal). It is simply untrue that is "more than we have paid any other [public relations] firm". Note that they are NOT doing any marketing for us... I assume your reference to marketing was a typo.

Concerning results: We are a couple of weeks into the contract and Wachsman has already achieved the best mainstream exposure we've received yet (Nasdaq). One of their main objectives is to gain mainstream exposure. In addition, they have completed work on a number of yet-to-be-disclosed press releases and news pieces that they have recommended be released in a certain sequence and timing. This type of work is impossible for them to "report results" on since they can't disclose what they've completed but haven't released. I'm afraid there is going to be a delay between the work they put in and the "results" that you seek, but that doesn't make their work not valuable. I encourage everyone to look at the mainstream exposure they've already achieved in a short period of time, and give them a bit of leeway to release their other work on their recommended timeline, rather than forcing them into adapting their strategy to satisfy the immediate demands of the network... that approach is clearly not in our best interests. The core team endorses this approach, and I can tell you that tangible results are coming.

Wachsman is a professional that isn't afraid to tell us when we are wrong, and when releasing something right away is the wrong strategy. His firm is heads above the rest, so far, and I don't expect he would compromise his service simply because his proposal is losing votes. We need to make sure we aren't being short-sighted here.

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n00bkid1 point,10 months ago

So glad to see that Nasdaq article today. It was fantastic exposure and well-written.

Thanks for reporting that Wachsman was responsible for its placement. I had no idea. Voting 'yes'.

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n00bkid2 points,10 months ago

Wachsman PR was supposed to have begun work for us at the beginning of September, am I correct?

If I am, what have they done these first three weeks of their employment? Thanks.

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TheDashGuy4 points,11 months ago

But what are they DOING? Where are the tangibles? Whats going on? Whats this 24,000 dollars going towards? Training people to speak publicly? You've got to be joking me right?

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ddink71 point,10 months ago

Well, for starters, Wachsman placed an article by BabyGiraffe on the website of one of the world's leading technology stock exchanges (nasdaq.com) with 7 million unique viewers per month (http://www.nasdaq.com/help/demographics.aspx#/ixzz4LNx4oGnf)

You should read it--Ryan is an excellent writer! http://www.nasdaq.com/article/its-q4-2016-so-where-is-bitcoins-consumer-demand-cm685512

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slavei0 points,11 months ago

Public perception is extremely important. The amount of money poured into PR by companies, celebrities and politicians proves this.

It is unfortunate but to succeed in the world as it stands today, you have to play the game. While I think it would be great to let our tech speak for itself, that won't work with the general populace and without professional guidance, a mistake will happen and could set the project back.

No offense to anyone on the core team but from watching various interviews, it is true that they need some advice on public speaking so that along with the other benefits of having a professional PR firm, this is money well spent.

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Solarminer0 points,10 months ago

If the core team needs better public speaking skills, why don't they take a class at a local community school? Seems crazy to hire an expensive marketing firm just to tell you how to do presentations. You will get much better instruction in person than with remote training.

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babygiraffe (proposal owner)0 points,10 months ago

This is not "public speaking" training. This is training specific to interacting with journalists and is only one aspect of the services being provided. Your wording makes it sound like this is all they are delivering. The Nasdaq article published today was the direct result of Wachsman's efforts. One of their main objectives is to get Dash into more mainstream publications, so media training is to ensure that when we do obtain that exposure, we are able to make the most of it and disseminate our message effectively.